


The World is Unkind, My Dear, but We Will Persevere

by RefugeeofTumblr



Category: Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
Genre: Gen, Holly also resorts to minor crime to survive, Holly is a hybrid, Mentions of Pickpocketing, Motherhood, Speciesism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-05-12 02:36:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19219855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RefugeeofTumblr/pseuds/RefugeeofTumblr
Summary: Sequel to Making Ends Meet. Holly picks up her daughter after school, and things get slightly more difficult than usual.





	The World is Unkind, My Dear, but We Will Persevere

“Mama! Mama!”

“Hey, kid,” Holly laughed as the tiny pixie darted into her arms. It took her almost no effort at all to lift the five year old; Sootie was light, even for a pixie, and Holly was capable of lifting twice her own weight. “How’d it go at school, huh?”

Though she didn’t like letting Sootie walk any distance alone at this age, the two had set up a meeting place outside a store several blocks from the elementary school. Every weeknight, Holly would wait there, keeping an eye out for her little girl. She worried, of course - anything could happen to a small fairy in a big world. But waiting with the other parents was no option, not when Sootie needed to make friends and focus on learning and playing. If it got out that her mother was an unattached _hybrid_ , any chance of that would be down the drain faster than a bowl of vole curry at a crunchball match.

So Holly sat outside the hole-in-the-wall secondhand shop every night, often with a cheap ebook pulled up on her reader to pass the time. Nothing had happened yet, which made her cautiously optimistic, and Sootie took a surprising amount of pride at the newfound freedom. The arrangement was alright for now, Holly supposed as she stood up with her daughter securely against her chest.

Before she could start walking, though, Sootie held up a rumpled sheet of paper, waving it enthusiastically and almost hitting Holly on the nose in the process. The little pixie’s warm brown eyes sparkled as she showed off her handiwork.

“I made you!”

And Sootie had. Or, more accurately, she’d drawn a brown colored stick figure, given it a large, hooked nose, and added what looked like fire above the figure’s head.

“Thanks,” Holly said, grinning. “It looks great!”

A fib, obviously, though it was impressive that Sootie had matched her skin tone so well from memory. Before she had time to feel any regret over the lie, however, something else caught her eye and made her blood turn cold in her veins. She even had to readjust her grip on Sootie to make sure she didn’t drop the girl in her shock.

“Wait, kid, what are those?” _Please don’t let them be-_

Sootie traced the large, veiny things in the picture with one tiny fingernail. “They’re your wings! Mrs. Beech liked them. She said I drew them really good.”

“Did she?” A sick churning sensation took hold of Holly’s gut; she had to swallow several times to get rid of the sharp, acidic taste on her tongue. How much did this Mrs. Beech know? If Sootie had told her enough, there was every chance this teacher would work out everything, and if that happened she might even get child services involved.

_That’s only if she works out how I pay for things_ , Holly thought hopefully. _They don’t investigate just because someone finds out a kid is adopted, right?_

Sootie’s pointy ears began to droop. “You don’ like it, mama?”

The dismayed look on her little girl’s face snapped Holly out of panic mode immediately. Mrs. Beech could be dealt with later if she was smart enough to become a problem.

Holly sat down on the bench she’d been waiting on, cradling Sootie close. “I love your drawing, sweetie,” she cooed as she ran gentle fingers through the pixie’s feathery hair, which was almost the same shade of velveteen black as her skin. “It’s just that mama doesn’t like people knowing about her wings. That’s why we meet here, remember? People get upset if they learn about my wings.”

As though to prove the point, she spotted several fairies at a coffee shop nearby who were craning their necks to see what was going on. Time to leave before they attracted too much attention. Holly often passed herself off easily enough as Sootie’s babysitter, but relying on a particular excuse never worked for long; you had to change the story eventually, or be found out. Not to mention the fact that one of the people around them might well have overheard Sootie calling her ‘mama’, in which case the babysitter story wouldn’t work at all.

Seeing Sootie draw in a deep breath - probably, knowing her, to ask a question - Holly stood, hefting her daughter in her arms once more. “Not now, okay kid? Let’s go home. Keep a hold on that picture, you don’t want to lose it after you worked so hard on it.”

Nobody followed them or called after them, which was undoubtedly a good sign. The winding back streets of Holden were not a place Holly wanted to get cornered or distracted in: an ignorant tourist who wandered down the alleys would get fleeced faster than they could say “hey, wait!”. Holden’s resident fleecers and street grifters knew Holly by sight, though, and a few even lived in the same apartment building. She kept her wits about her as a precaution, but their eyes slid over her and Sootie to move on to other targets - the silent understanding that Holly had nothing of value to steal made her unappealing as a mark, and Sootie certainly didn’t own anything that could fetch more than a gold coin. Hardly worth the trouble, even for the poorest street corner pickpocket.

They lived in _Holden_ , after all, and nobody lived there unless they couldn’t afford to live anywhere else. The dilapidated apartment complexes and run-down houses with their vacant, overgrown lots attested to that. Holly wrinkled her nose slightly as she caught the scent of something dead and rotting in one of the yards. She didn’t check to see what it was. Probably just an animal, and if it wasn’t… well, that was best left to the police.

It still paid to be careful around this area, no matter how poor you were; some fairies went after more than your wallet. The walk home was uneventful, though, and soon enough Holly hitched Sootie up onto her shoulder to unlock the door to their apartment building’s atrium. Built around the time of Frond, the first elfin king - and clearly not updated since then - the place looked an absolute mess. The ‘atrium’ was a glorified nook with a worn plastic chair shoved into the corner, and the hallways looked as though they had never seen a fresh coat of paint or new carpeting in their life. Letting Sootie down, Holly led her daughter down a staircase to the right that took them to the basement. Their apartment was one of two that had been built to share a wall with the central heating system, which was admittedly nice, as it meant they were never cold during the winter. Not that Haven City had extreme winters, as a rule, but fairies tended to cope badly with low temperatures that might be shrugged off by other creatures. Humans had the advantage there, and so the few that were left tended to live in extreme Northern latitudes.

Sootie ran into the apartment as soon as Holly got the door open, doing laps around the living room. The little pixie seemed almost manic as she bounced on the couch, then leapt up onto a chair beside the kitchen counter.

“What are we gonna eat, mama?”

_Not much_ , Holly thought, throwing down her keys on a side table and walking over to check the fridge. As the cold air stung her eyeballs, making her blink, she saw that the fridge had not in fact gotten any fuller since that morning. A protein shake sat on one shelf, and the remains of a fruit salad from yesterday languished in the bottom of a large plastic bowl.

The fruit salad looked fine to give to Sootie. Fruits were essential to a child’s health, after all, and the sugarless whipped cream _probably_ counted as dairy, which would help her bones. Holly nodded absently as she took the bowl out and spooned the contents into a cup. A smoothie would be enough to fill her own stomach right now while Sootie ate, and later she would slip out to find money and buy them a proper dinner. Something that could be eaten over multiple days, preferably.

Yes. That sounded alright. “We have some fruit, hon. You want some fruit?”

For Sootie, the promise of anything sweet guaranteed instant excitement. “Fruit! Yay! We have strawberries?”

“And more,” Holly laughed, setting the cup on the counter where the pixie could reach it. “Here you go - no, use a _spoon_ , little Soot - all the fruit you want. Go wild, kid.”

With her daughter happily chowing down on a mix of pears, apples, grapes, strawberries, and oranges, Holly was free to focus on other things, like the small matter of what they would eat for dinner and breakfast. She’d had bad luck that night with her targets. One had even nearly rumbled her, which meant that she had no cash until the weekend unless she found a mark. Her cherubic lips curled into a frown. _I’ve not let Sootie go hungry yet, and I won’t start now._

“Alright, be careful, okay?” She patted Sootie on the shoulder, offering a grin when her daughter shot a curious look her way. “I’m going out to do a few errands.”

Ears wiggling happily, Sootie nodded and went back to her food. “Okay mama!”

Holly knew things would be fine while she was gone. Despite her energy and enthusiasm, Sootie knew not to open the door to anyone but Holly herself, and she _definitely_ knew that she shouldn’t get into anything that wasn’t hers.

“I’ll be back soon,” Holly called as she put her shoes back on and made sure that her wings were still adequately hidden by her jacket. Then the elf-sprite hybrid made sure her keys were in the right place - she didn’t want to lock herself out - and reached to open the door.

When it swung open, a sound not unlike that of a surprised cat reverberated in Holly’s throat. It took all her composure not to let it become a full-blown yelp - a middle-aged gnome was standing on her doorstep, one hand raised as though to knock. The gnome and Holly stared at each other for a moment, both blinking and startled as they suddenly found themselves face-to-face. Holly’s brain was not so paralyzed that it couldn’t analyze the situation, however, and kicked into gear almost immediately: the most pressing questions, of course, were what this gnome was doing here and who she was. A quick glance up and down revealed that the gnome wore a dark blue dress that fell conservatively down to her ankles, and her steely grey hair was pulled back into a strict bun. She looked like your stereotypical elementary school teacher, and didn’t that bode well after what Sootie had said earlier?

Swallowing her surprise and dread, Holly put on a polite smile, smoothing back her auburn hair with one hand. “Um, hi. Is there something I can do for you?”

“Forgive me,” the gnome said, her accent an upscale Haven croon, “you _are_ little Sootie’s mother, am I right?”

Well. That pretty much confirmed Holly’s suspicions. “Is this something to do with school, ma’am? She’s been excited about everything, so I didn’t think anything was wrong.”

“Wrong? I didn’t mean to give that impression, dear.” The gnome’s smile was genuine, at least, or very, very convincingly faked. “No, your daughter is doing fine in school. She’s one of the most enthusiastic students I’ve ever taught, in fact. I had just been wondering why she always walks off by herself every night after class, and then there was the… interesting picture she drew. She showed it to you?”

So this was Mrs. Beech. Rumbled. Holly nodded, leaning against the doorframe with one hand to mask her sudden trembling. She was sure her expression gave away her wariness - the look on the teacher’s face all but confirmed it.

Small footsteps sounded, getting louder as Sootie pattered over to them. “Hi Mrs. Beech!” She gave the gnome an excited gap-toothed grin. “What’s you doing here?”

Much to Holly’s surprise, the gnome bent down to answer. “Hello, my dear! I was worried that you were walking on your own, and in such a big city. But you were just fine, weren’t you?”

“Uh-huh! Mama walks with me!”

The gnome’s canny eyes flicked up to meet Holly’s. “But she doesn’t come and meet you at the school?”

“Nope. I can walk a little by myself!” Sootie looked so proud, standing there with her chest puffed out to its fullest, that both adults had to laugh.

Mrs. Beech stood up again, shaking her head as she chuckled at Sootie’s antics. “I suppose so. Well then, please forgive me for being nosy. Just an old gnome’s worries getting the better of her.” There was a brief pause, and the merriment slipped for a moment as her brow furrowed slightly. Her voice, however, was still light and airy as she added, “But please do wait with the other parents in the future, Miss Short. I’m sure we would all love to get to know you better.”

_I’m sure you would_ , Holly thought. _And I’m sure you’d like the full scoop on my parentage as well._ She hadn't missed the fact that Sootie's teacher had called her 'Miss' instead of assuming that she was married, after all. Outwardly, she smiled back with as much charm as she could muster. “I’ll do my best. Work, you know.”

The old gnome’s expression was slightly skeptical as she turned to leave. “Of course, dear. I’m sure you’re _very_ busy.”

Damned old crone. Not all hybrids were freeloaders and criminals like the rumors made them out to be: Holly herself only turned to pickpocketing when she absolutely had to, like _today_. Wincing slightly as she remembered why she’d been about to leave in the first place, Holly sighed, then swung the door closed for the moment and twisted the latch into place. Better make sure Sootie’s teacher actually left before going out to prowl the streets. She didn’t trust that Mrs. Beech wouldn’t be hanging around for a while in an attempt to 'catch her in the act' or some rubbish like that.

_What a mess_ , Holly thought as she toed her shoes off and collapsed onto the couch to read. She was thankful for the fact that she’d left her e-reader at home now; she only had to grab it off the coffee table instead of digging it out of her jacket or bag. _I’ll have to be more careful. We can’t have anybody else getting suspicious like this._

The cushion shifted, and a tiny form pressed against her side. “Can I have a story before homework?” When Holly glanced down, Sootie had her best pleading expression in place, eyes wide and lips curved up into an excited grin.

“ _Before_ homework?” Snorting, Holly ruffled her daughter’ hair. “I don’t think so, little Soot. You need to do your homework, and then I promise we’ll read for a bit. Then I’ll go and get us dinner, okay?”

Sootie’s pout could have charmed an angry bull troll mid-rampage, but after her mother held firm for several seconds the pixie stuck out her tongue, relenting, and hopped off the couch, grabbing her backpack and running down the short hallway to her room.

For a moment after the sound of the door closing echoed down the hallway, Holly stared in that direction, lost in thought: Sootie was a good kid at heart, and still so painfully _honest_ that her chest ached sometimes when she witnessed it. Holly had learned to lie and deceive better than most adults at Sootie’s age, bending to blend into her surroundings instead of risking the consequences of standing out. The decision stung deep down even now, but… well, nobody could rewind time. And if her skills as a thief saw them through the lean periods, then she’d answer to the gods once she died with the knowledge that she did what she had to do for the sake of being a good mother.

Rubbing one hand absently back and forth against the soft couch cushions, Holly drew in a deep breath. Eyes closed, sitting there, she let the quiet surrounding her banish all the negative emotions that crowded beneath the surface. She was home. The residual smell of vaguely floral carpet cleaner and the soft hum of the appliances around her were familiar, soothing. It truly felt like everything was going to be alright.

When Holly opened her eyes again, the determined gleam in their depths was almost bright enough to glow.

_I will outwit them all._

**FIN.**

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't expect to continue this, but I had some notes for a sequel written on paper and I decided to give it a go. Let me know what you think!
> 
> You can find me on waterfall.social as BluVoid and BluWrites! I'm also on DreamWidth as whitefeatheredtrico, and my fanfiction.net username is the same username I have here.


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